The present invention relates to the mechanical design of a retainer plate for a combustor transition piece forward sleeve.
FIG. 1 schematically depicts a typical combustor 10 in cross-section. As can be seen, in this example, the transition piece 12 includes a radially inner transition piece body 14 and a radially outer transition piece impingement sleeve 16 spaced from the transition piece body 14. Upstream thereof is the combustion liner 17 and the combustor flow sleeve 18 defined in surrounding relation thereto. The encircled region is the transition piece forward sleeve assembly 20. When assembling the impingement sleeve, the impingement sleeve parts are aligned and held at the split seam thereof. Conventionally, a retainer plate 22 is disposed at the forward joint where the impingement halves come together and is welded to the forward sleeve to help hold the halves of the impingement sleeve tightly together. The forward sleeve mounting plate 22 typically found on transition pieces is a simple, rectangular-shaped plate.